Why not try Ubuntu. I use Kubuntu which favours KDE. Ubuntu is fast loading and easy to config down loads are a singe using synaptic or even apt from command line. Have a look at there forums if you don't believe me.
http://ubuntuforums.org/

Maybe if you disable some of the services that startup at boottime you can speed up your boot-time.

Maybe you can try out debian (or one of its offspring) which let you install a minimalistic system (which can be expanded at your needs) instead of an all-in-one-preconfigured distro like RH, SuSE or Mandriva.